According to the just-released fourth-quarter 2008 Employment Outlook Survey conducted by Manpower Inc., hiring plans in Canada appear quite resilient. This news comes despite significant turmoil in global financial markets and persistant concerns about the health of the U.S. economy.

When asked about their organization’s hiring plans to the end of December 2008, 20% of respondents expected higher head counts, 7% anticipated a decrease and 70% saw no change.

Based on this response pattern, Manpower calculated its Net Employment Outlook for the country as a whole to be 14%, when adjusted for seasonal factors. This figure is little changed from the 13% reported in the previous two surveys; however, it is somewhat lower than the 17% reported for fourth-quarter 2007.

According to the Manpower Survey, while the overall employment outlook for Canada calls for “steady growth,” the net outlook for construction employment in the fourth-quarter (+22%) was decidedly stronger than in the third quarter (+9%).

Compared to a year ago, net fourth-quarter 2008 hiring plans in construction are down 6 percentage points. However, with a record 6.9% of the labour force employed in construction, construction firms may be scaling down their hiring plans in the face of skilled labour shortages.

It is worth noting that the pick-up in fourth-quarter construction hiring plans is quite consistent with the recent acceleration in both non-residential and residential construction and the stronger-than-expected increase in August housing starts.

Looking beyond the fourth-quarter of this year, it appears likely that total hiring plans will soften, as the effects of sluggish global demand push firms to moderate their staffing needs. This softening of overall hiring plans is likely to extend to construction, given the expected slowing in both residential and commercial building activity that will occur in the first half of 2009.

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